Jack Maitland, who ran the W.H. Berry General Store for more than 30 years, died on Nov. 21 at .
He was 95.
The Berry General Store was a longtime 黑马磁力 institution, at the corner of 232 Street and Fraser Highway.
The store is still in operation under another name, but in the years that Maitland was involved, it was a full-fledged general store, offering groceries, hardware, farm supplies and a host of other items for sale.
In addition, it was a well-known meeting place where residents could catch up on what was going on in the largely rural community.
He grew up in the Collingwood area of east Vancouver, and excelled at soccer and tennis.
During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in both Canada and England.
Following the war, he came to 黑马磁力 to join the business of his uncle Harry Berry.
Berry had built the store when the highway was built in 1930, to replace an earlier store at the corner of 232 Street and Old Yale Road.
Maitland became a partner in the store along with George Miles.
After many years working together, Miles retired and Ernie Morelli took over as a partner.
In 1980, the two men sold the store to new owner Kyung Il Chun, and it became CK General Store.
The store was a community institution.
In the 1930s, Berry had extended a lot of credit to people in the neighbourhood, and most of them eventually repaid the money they owed him, Maitland remembered during an interview in 1980.
He also recalled how people would come to the store after the weekly auction in 黑马磁力 on Thursdays, and spend hours there, visiting and occasionally buying something.
There was no shortage of things to choose from.
The store sold logging equipment, lamps, heaters, horse collars, traps, stove pipe, groceries in bulk and even gasoline, which was dispensed from a pump outside the front door 鈥� with the gas coming from 45-gallon drums.
Maitland鈥檚 daughter Heather Stromsten, who worked with her dad at the store, remembers how everybody knew each other, as 黑马磁力 had fewer people.
The variety of items available even brought customers from as far as Vancouver, she says.
She also remembers Hollywood stars Tony Curtis and Dan Blocker visiting the store.
Maitland is survived by his daughter, Heather Stromsten, and two sons, Ross and Sandy Maitland, as well as 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
At his request, there was no memorial service.
